Theatre review: Sixty Miles to Silver Lake

Ky: you gotta trust me, okay?
We’ll get there soon
But first
First we gotta make sure that it’s Safe

Denny: But how do we know when it’s Safe?

With Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, Dan LeFranc has vaulted his way onto my own personal Playwrights to Watch list. Despite a spate of productions both here and across the country, he’s remained under New York’s theatrical radar. Hopefully this play will get him into the spotlight.

Sixty Miles to Silver Lake is the story of a young boy and his father, trapped in a car ride after soccer practice, both dealing with the fallout of a nasty divorce. Time and space warp in the play—the young boy, Denny, is 15, then 11, then 13, then going to college and back again. The entire play takes place in the front seat of his father’s Volvo, driving to a joint-custody weekend in Silver Lake. Ky is desperately trying to reconnect with his son, now nearly lost to him thanks to adolescence and the divorce. As time wraps back on itself, again and again, we gradually learn the horrifying details of the divorce and its long-term effect on Denny’s life.

Dane DeHaan is heartbreaking (and accurate) as Denny, mortified by his father one moment and trying to impress him the next. Joseph Adams as Ky is as embarrassing as every dad is at that age; his Ky overflows with gruff, friendly attempts at contact, playful punches, pinches, head-pats, and completely inappropriate dating advice (“Got your fingers fishy yet, son?”). For a play that takes place entirely in the front seat of the car, it’s strangely active—both actors are fidgety, constantly moving. It’s obvious their characters feel trapped with each other. Being men, they’re both trying to find their way out of the quagmire of bad emotion surrounding the divorce, and their now-hesitant bond. It’s a nuanced look at a troubled relationship, written in an oddly poetic syntax that sounds natural to the ear.

The direction (by Anne Kauffman, of God’s Ear fame and others) isn’t without its flaws; the car breaks apart in strange ways in the last minutes of the play, moving all over the stage, which frankly was a distraction. The dialogue should have taken precedence. And the “is it safe” bits are segregated into weird montages of horror-movie lighting and microphone sound effects; it was almost as if the play were being shoehorned into a naturalist production, when the play is anything but naturalistic. Nevertheless, it’s a great production, and a new play by a hot playwright—a perfect follow-up to SoHo Rep’s success with Sarah Kane’s Blasted.


Written by Dan LeFranc
Directed by Anne Kauffma
With Joseph Adams (Ky) and Dane DeHaan (Denny)
Set and Costume Design: Dane Laffrey
Lighting Design: Tyler Micoleau
Running Time: Seventy-five minutes with no intermission
SoHo Rep, 46 Walker Street; 212-352-3101
Tickets $35
Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 pm; Saturday at 3:00 pm
January 15—February 8, 2009